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Must be a phase?!?!

My 6 month old DD is having a really rough week. Very fussy and out of sorts. Could be teeth...could be the weather...there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason at the moment. She is nursing fine during the night, of course, but during the day she'll nurse for about 30 seconds then pull away crying. Supply is fine....let down pace is the same it's always been. Maybe she's getting a stomach ache each time; I'm just not sure.

Since our feedings are a bit rough during the day right now, I have added in some extra pumping sessions. I pump once in the morning (as always have), once in the mid day and once in the evening. Does three times daily seem like enough/too much/not enough for a baby who's not feeding well during the day right now? I'm confident the issue will resolve, but just want to keep my supply as it's always been in the mean time.

For me, it is mainly an oversupply issue--I make too much milk, so sometimes we go through phases where it lets down too forcefully for ds during the day. He nurses better if we try the side-lying position, like what we do at night. Here is a link to the LLL FAQ page on oversupply. http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/oversupply.html

For what it's worth, I know that three pumping sessions would aggrevate this condition for me...I avoid pumping, so if a nursing strike lowers my supply, ds goes into growth spurt mode and nurses more frequently to catch the supply back up when he wants to resume. You are not me, so I don't want to assume that you are experiencing the same, but that's my perspective if you are pumping that much in addition to nursing (as opposed to pumping for missed nursing due to working apart from baby, etc.)

Another thought, is your baby eating solids? For how long has that been going on? Do you nurse before or after solid meals? Some people see a decrease in milk if you nurse after, since baby may fill up on too many solids. If that sounds possible, maybe try nursing first, then just offer whatever small amounts of solids your baby wants afterward.

Best wishes--I commend you for having the dedication to pump. Honestly, I avoided pumping out of sheer laziness with my older dd, before I had any idea that we were dealing with oversupply. But you asked whether you thought that 3x was too much or too little, and that is my answer, that it seems like too much unless you have good reason to suspect that your supply is not meeting baby's needs. Hopefully a LLL leader with chine in with more info on that since I have never researched low supply.

Re: Must be a phase?!?!

Thanks for your insight. Things seem to have gotten a bit better, from a nursing perspective in the last day. My baby is still very agitated though. Did bring her to the doctor for a check yesterday and everything appears fine. We'll see what the rest of the week brings. We plan to start cereal for the first time later this week. My plan, as it was with my first DD, is to nurse first and then do cereal afterward.